'Astro Night' Features Black Holes & Free Telescope Viewing

An evening of black holes, exoplanet searches, and telescope viewing mark the University of Cincinnati's welcome for noted author and cosmologist

Fulvio Melia

on Friday, May 13.

Melia

, professor of physics at the University of Arizona and author of a new book,

Cracking the Einstein Code: Relativity and the Birth of Black Hole Physics

, will lecture at 8:00 p.m. Friday, May 13, in Room 309 Braunstein Hall (Old Physics Building) on black holes and the untold story of the young scientists who developed our understanding of Einstein's work. Melia will be available to sign copies of his book, available after the lecture for purchase.

Immediately following Melia's lecture, UC astrophysics major Davin Flateau will describe his work at UC's Braunstein Hall observatory detecting planets orbiting other stars.  Flateau will give a brief lecture about the exoplanet project and give a tour of the observatory.  Flateau is particularly interested in recruiting new members for UC's exoplanet observing team, so prospective volunteers are especially welcome to attend.

If the evening is clear, several telescopes will be set out on the McMicken lawn at 10:00 p.m., attended by astrophysics faculty Michael Sitko and UC's graduate students and astrophysics majors.

The special Astro Night event was organized by Adithan Kathirgamaraju and fellow members of the Society of Physics Students.

All events are free and open to the public.